Barnabas: Gods Amongst Men
Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas at Lystra
Henry Cook (1642-1700)
After Cyprus, they travel north to Perga in Pamphylia. John Mark leaves them for Jerusalem, while Paul and Barnabas go on to Pisidian Antioch.
Perga was famous for its worship of Artemis. She was the goddess of the Moon, nature and the wilderness.
Pamphylia comes from the Greek word, pamphylos which literally means “of mingled tribes or races".
We see in Exodus 12, that a mixed multitude left Egypt with Moses and Aaron.
Exodus 12 v 38
A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.
By mentioning Perga and Pamphylia, Luke is indicating that after the events in Cyprus, where they performed miracles in front of the ruler, they moved to the ‘Wilderness’ (Perga) with the ‘mixed multitude’ (Palmphlya). This echoes the story of Moses, Aaron and the Children of Israel.
Pisidian Antioch
After Perga, the two head towards Pisidian Antioch.
There were many Antioches in the Empire. In Roman times, Pisidian was a fertile area which grew all kinds of fruit and vegetables.
In the Book of Numbers, 12 spies were sent into Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey, to scout out the area. But only only two came back with a good report.
After this the Children of Israel began to complain. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and gave a rallying cry to trust God by looking at what He had done for them in the past.
Paul and Barnabas followed the same pattern and lay out the history of Israel and use it to preach the Gospel.
Then the Jewish leaders stirred up trouble against them. This is similar to the rebellion of Korah later in the Book of Numbers. Where Korah rebelled by stirring up the community leaders against Moses and Aaron.
Iconium
The next town they visited was Iconium, which means the City of the Image or Icon.
There are two foundation myths associated with this town. From my perspective, the more interesting of the two is associated with the Gorgon, Medusa.
Medusa was a cursed women who had snakes for hair and whose gaze turned people to stone. Perseus cut off her head and used it as a weapon to conquer the region around Iconium.
The snake imagery associated with Iconium reminds me of the story of the Bronze Serpent near the end of the Book of Numbers. This is where snakes attack the camp, and only those Israelites who looked at the bronze serpent on the pole were saved.
In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas preached and performed many signs and wonders. And as with the Israelites, ‘snakes came into the camp’. The local Jews poisoned the minds of the Gentiles and just as with the Israelites, the inhabitants of Iconium were split between those who looked to the Cross and accepted Christ and those who didn’t believe.
Lystra and Derbe
Paul and Barnabas fled for their lives and ended up in Lystra. They then heal a lame man and the locals say in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men”. The locals believed Paul to be Hermes and Barnabas to be Zeus.
The Lycaonian language probably meant that they sounded uneducated. Though Greek mythology says the first temple dedicated to the god Hermes was built by King Lycaon. Who Zeus then turned into a wolf.
The pagans then told the priest in the local temple to Zeus, who then arranged for a bull sacrifice.
Paul and Barnabas were upset.
This was probably the first time Paul and Barnabas had not begun a visit by meeting at the synagogue first. It is possible there was no Jewish meeting place in the area and this was the first time they had shared the Gospel directly with pagans. This may be the reason why Paul begins to preach about how God made all things and how He allowed creation to be a witness to all the nations.
Moses and Hermes
Throughout the story of Barnabas we see him and Paul link in with the events in the life of Moses and Aaron.
The connections are not always straightforward, but clearly something is going on. Whether Luke did this on purpose, whether Paul was mindful of it when retelling the stories of his trips or whether it the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I don’t know. But this next part is the strangest connection I’ve made.
Moses died looking over the Promised Land, on Mount Nebo. He never crossed over the River Jordan because when instructed by God to speak to a rock to produce a stream of water, he struck it twice with a staff.
Nebo, was an Assyrian/Babylonian god. His cult was popular in Egypt and known throughout the ancient world. Nebo was similar to the Roman God Mercury and the Greek God Hermes.
By connecting Paul with Hermes and by extension Nebo, Luke could be pointing to the death of Moses. After all, Paul is struck by stones and is presumed dead by the Lystrians. And Moses doesn’t reach the Promised Land because of the Stone he struck.
End of the First Mission
After Paul recovers, they go on to Derbe. This means ‘locked gate’. Therefore they can’t go further and must return the way they came. They turn round and revisit all the churches they had established on the trip and head back to Antioch in Syria.